Seniors at Horry County Schools’ Early College High School will soon be learning to work through their finances, courtesy of an online program called EverFi.
The program was obtained through a partnership between Business Education Expectations (BE2) and Coastal Carolina National Bank. BE2 is a group that provides support for Early College – such as funding various projects and setting up internships and scholarships – and works in conjunction with local businesses, the school district and Horry Georgetown Technical College.
Marsha Griffin of BE2 said the EverFi program will fill in the missing link for the Early College students of how to manage money, teaching them how to make a budget, save and handle credit and debt. The program, which already is used in at least four other school districts in the state, also covers how a bank works, taxes, higher-education loans, investing and consumer fraud.
“It’s not just another program,” Griffin said. “My kids [at Early College] don’t know what it’s like to have a banker. This program is so independent that it just teaches the whole [financial literacy] piece.
Griffin said EverFi is a national program that she found out about through the S.C. Bankers Association. She said the cost is $6,000 for a three-year licensure, and half of that cost was paid by an anonymous donor through the Waccamaw Foundation.
Early College High Principal Joan Grimmett said the program will begin in about two weeks, and that students will take a total of six hours of online work.
“When they finish it successfully, they get a certification that they are financially literate,” Grimmett said. “We think they’re going to like it. It’s kind of like a video game. They get to design their own avatar, and there’s a real-life simulation … It’s a really neat program.”
Charlie Peabody, also with EverFi, said the program already is in use in schools in the Charleston, Darlington, Florence and Lexington 2 districts. He said he has met with Georgetown County School District officials, and is working with them to get the program there as well.
The launch of the program will only benefit seniors in Early College, but the EverFi licensure allows the program to be used for as many students as the school wants, Griffin said.
“So perhaps if they see this is really well-responded to, we’ll take it down to other grades,” she said.
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